Keep Your Head Up
by Freakin-little
Summary: Bills. Kids. Work. Greasers. Socs. Fights. School. Boys. Police. Doctors. Life. Sometimes all you can do is just remember to keep your head up and wake up every morning. Which is a lot harder than it should be. Darry/OC
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own the outsiders; that belongs to S.E Hinton.**

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><p>The day was starting out to look like a hot one already. The sun was bright and high as could be in the sky. The covers stuck to her sweating skin and she kicked them away; irritated. Her bare feet hit the rough wood flooring, which really should've been replaced years ago with all the scratching it had, and headed down the short hallway and turned into the kitchen.<p>

It was a sad sort of kitchen, with chipping bright yellow paint, pealing flowery wall paper and chipped tiles by the stove. Her mother's taste. The window over the sink had thin, wispy yellow curtains but the rod had broken on one side when Bennie used it for leverage to climb onto the counter last week so now it hung low on one side. The trash was piled up in the can over in the corner and someone would have to take it out later. Plates and cups and utensils lined the wall buy the sink and one of the cupboard doors was missing. Not the mention the sink didn't have hot water anymore and only ran cold. And they were out of dish soap.

Searching for a pan in the bottom cupboard, she cracked the few eggs they had left in the carton, someone would have to food shop soon before they starved, and grabbed a spatula. She flipped some toast into the toaster, though there was only a slab of margarine left. Spreading the eggs between two pans, she made eggs and pancakes, since Kay refused to eat anything yellow. She scrounged around the shelves a bit, looking for the constantly roving bag of chocolate chips, and sprinkled the remaining ones into the pancake batter, forming a smiley face. Childish, she knew, but it lit Kay's face up to see someone put care into her own special breakfast.

There was no milk left and they had run out of juice earlier this week, so she found some clean cups, and filled them with cold water, the only kind the damned sink provided. She started her coffee and lit a cigarette.

Sitting the filled plates on the carved up table, courtesy of her brothers, she placed the cups down, turning off the stove. Padding back down the hallway she stopped at the second doorway, a name carved in messy scrawl into the wood and another written in what she concluded was a sort of maroon red dried lipstick, like they couldn't let only one person's name on the door. She banged twice before twisting the knob and flicking on the light, which flickered dully from the bulb. A groan came from a bed at one end of the room and on the other side a thin, olive toned arm carelessly, but accurately, chucked a sneaker at the door which she managed to close in time, rolling her eyes. Every morning.

She put the stick to her lips for a moment and headed to the next door, shoving it open. The window in the room had a shade pulled down, duct taped to the wall to stay shut which made the room dark. A little tiny fan, probably nicked by one of them, sat on a shelf, making it the coolest room in the whole house. A cloud of smoke came out her nose and she would've flicked on the lights, but someone had taped the switch down too, obviously not keen on being woken up by bright lights in the morning. So instead she wandered into the small room, stepping over the dirty clothes that needed a wash and the sneakers and boots, the leather tearing and the sneakers nearly shredded, and stood between the two beds before sticking her cigarette in her mouth where it hung loosely between her lips and smacked her now free hands down on the broad bare backs of her sleeping brothers.

"Fuck!"

"The hell kind of wakeup call is that?"

"The kind that gets even the dead up and moving. Let's go, you've got school and you've got work and don't think I didn't notice you were both late yesterday."

She ignored the curses sent her way and left, leaving the door open and headed back to her room. The occupant across the hall from her brothers, her grandmother, was usually able to wake herself up by now, though she never made the breakfast or woke the other up. She wasn't into that stuff, what she called 'coddling'. Grandma Theresa thought a kid needed to learn how to wake up on their own, take care of themselves. Well if she didn't wake them all up herself Lord knows they'd never move from their beds unless they needed to piss.

She lifted the blankets from the two in her own bed and shook them awake.

"Rise and shine. Face the day." She told them before heading towards the bathroom down the hall.

She stripped of her bed clothes and turned the water on. The water heater was broken, of course, and like the sink the shower only spewed ice cold water. She made quick work of using the dwindling supply of shampoo and shaved, rinsing herself off as someone opened the door and used the toilet. She ripped open the curtain, folding a towel around herself as someone else walked through the already opened door. James rolled his shoulders as he finished and scratched lazily at his back, yawning, before stepping out of his underwear and into the still running shower.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Brenda, will you get the damn thing fixed?" he demanded before closing the curtain.

"Yeah, when you give me the cash, boy." She replied, ruffling the hair of Bennie, who was moving from where he brushed his teeth in the sink to the toilet.

She found Kay sitting up tiredly in her bed, legs folded under the blankets, a dazed look on her face and gave her a sleepy smile. She walked over to the petite teenager, smoothing her bedhead and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"You know what you're gonna wear to school today, baby?" she asked.

Kay nodded her head and slowly touched her feet to the floor. Brenda released her towel, throwing it at Kay who headed towards the bathroom and pulled out her clothes for the day. She ran a quick brush through her long, dark and thick hair, tied it up and threw the brush onto the bed for Kay when she came back.

The coffee was ready by the time she entered the kitchen, drinking it black was how she had it every morning since they never seemed to own any cream and sugar made her jumpy. Roy was already at the table, half asleep, shoveling eggs into his mouth.

"Morning." She greeted.

Roy merely nodded his head in her general direction. He didn't function well this early in the day. Bennie came out them, James on his heels, both grabbing seats at the table and practically inhaling their own eggs. Sonny was up now, scratching himself as he gave a large, lion-sized yawn, walking towards the bathroom, and as usual, had no clothes on this morning. A frustrated swear came from the bathroom and Connie stormed into the kitchen, irritated look on her face.

"I swear, he doesn't own a single pair of pants." She muttered.

"Would explain where all mine keep disappearing to." James replied.

"He's old, he's got a job. Buy some clothes already."

"You wanna tell him that, princess?"

"Enough. James, Connie, eat your breakfast, it's getting cold. Kay! Let's go, baby, your cakes are getting' chilly out here." Brenda said.

She couldn't very well yell at the kid. Kay may have been Connie's twin, but they were complete opposites in everything but looks. They were both thin and petite, dark olive toned skin, dark doe eyes and even darker long, slightly curly hair. Though that was where the similarities stopped for the fifteen year olds. Kay was the youngest of the twins and clearly the more submissive one. There was nothing submissive about Connie. Connie was loud and always had an opinion on everything, and she told you about it whether you wanted it or not. She tended to lose her temper quick, whereas Brenda didn't think Kay even had one, and Connie got into fights with other girls. She punched a guy once, someone in the Shepard gang, broke his nose. While Brenda was proud her kid sister could handle herself, the last thing she had needed was a pissed Shepard on her doorstep. Kay was different though. While she wasn't a wall flower, and she was her own person, she wasn't loud about her thoughts like Connie was. Kay was quite, to the point where she really didn't even talk, preferring to use any other sort of method of communication. Sometimes Brenda felt it was like a game to Kay, finding a new way to talk without actually speaking. Maybe she was just using it as a way to release her creativity, which she certainly had a lot of, what with her sketches and paintings that covered the walls of her bedroom, where Kay and Bennie tended to sleep. But she couldn't yell at Kay, cause you just didn't yell at Kay the way you could yell at Connie. Kay was easily frightened and Connie was easily agitated. That's just how they worked.

Kay glided into the kitchen, so light on her feet she didn't even make a sound when she stepped, and sat gently in her seat, her dark doe eyes brightening slightly when she saw the smiley face greeting her again that morning. She smiled a small Kay smile at Brenda before picking at the pancake with her small hands.

"Anyone who isn't walking needs to be at the car in five." Sonny announced, stalking into the kitchen and grabbing the coffee cup and cigarette from Brenda's hands, taking a hit before taking a large gulp of coffee as Brenda searched for the car keys.

Sonny was the oldest, standing tall at twenty-two. He had the look of their dad, with his pale skin and light brown hair, like Bennie, the youngest. Everyone else had shades of their mother, with their olive skin and dark hair. Though Brenda, James and Bennie were the only ones to have their dad's dark blue eyes.

Sonny's eyes were dark and hard though, angry, and Brenda had a feeling they were an older version of Connie's. His light brown hair was slicked back, his shoulders, like James and their father's, was broad, unlike Roy's who had a slim build at fourteen. Sonny worked as a carpenter during the warm weather, had since he was fifteen and had trained under some older man named Bobby who died after falling off a ladder and Sonny took his place. James worked part-time loading and doing manual labor at a warehouse and some factories after school.

James reached for the cigarette in Sonny's hand and their brother smacked his hand away with a gruff 'get your own pack'.

"That's not even yours." James protested.

"So?"

James rolled his eyes, grabbing his and Sonny's black leather jackets from the living room chairs and headed out to the truck with a shouted good-bye that made Kay flinch and a wave over his shoulder. Connie rolled her eyes at his back and nudged Kay gently, nodding her head to get their bags and head out. Kay nodded, standing to give Sonny and kiss on the cheek and a quick hug around the waist to Brenda before following Connie out the door, screen door slamming against the frame behind them.

"I can't believe you let Connie out the front door lookin' like that." Sonny said.

Brenda shot him a dry look.

"_You_ wanna take away the make-up?"

Sonny grumbled under his breath, an irritated roll of his eyes before snatching up the keys, messing with Brenda's hair and ushering the two boys, Roy and Bennie, out of the house. Brenda cleared off the dishes and put them on the counter for washing later. She then made the rounds for the rooms, picking up the dirty clothes and putting them in the basket. She picked up the unfamiliar bra in James and Sonny's room and shook her head.

"Grams, time for your medication." Brenda called through the door before walking into the living room.

She set the basket down, she'd wash it later. She scribbled down a grocery list, since she was getting her paycheck today for the diner. Her bar maids check would handle the utilities this week and hopefully James and Sonny could cover part of the mortgage and car.

Her grandmother, Theresa, came out of her room them, little pale and wrinkled hand clutching her can, scowl on her face as usual. Her grandmother had a heart condition and needed to take her medication religiously, but she hated it. Thought going to church would heal her right up if they made her stop taking the stinking chemical toxins they called medicine and making her pollute her body. Whatever helped her sleep at night, Brenda thought.

Her grandmother was her father's mother, and she was old, having had trouble having kids so her father had come late in her life. Her skin was pale and she had spider-veins and her hair, supposedly a rich red once was now wispy and starlight white. She was getting slightly hunched in her back and her bones were going. She had only broken her wrist last year from stumbling into the counter. She had a necklace around her that held her glasses up and she was constantly forgetting where they were when they were either hanging down on the chain or even still on her face. But her tongue was sharp as a knife, even if her memory was going. Sometimes she insisted Bennie was still seven instead of eleven.

After an hour or so of tidying up the house and listening to her grandmother rant about some political 'hooplah', she finally grabbed her apron and kissed her grandmother's cheek before heading out to go to Phil's Diner for her shift. She lit another cigarette and watched the road for any Mustangs or something. She wasn't likely to be jumped, being a girl and all, but she'd rather avoid the name calling as they drove by.

Eventually she made it to the diner, without any Soc sightings, and tied her apron around her waist, moving to the next waiting table, Caroline having already gotten a few down. It was uneventful there, just taking orders and getting a few remarks from some fellow Greasers which she easily ignored.

It was when she got the phone call at work, specially requesting her, _that_ the day turned in a whole new direction.


	2. Chapter 2 Stay For a Coke

Their beat up blue truck that had more rust than paint on it and the back windows were missing sat in the driveway. The front door was open, leaving the screen door closed. An old cracked clay flower pot of her mother's was knocked over on the porch though the plants were long dead.

Their house wasn't much. It was a one level house, small wooden porch in the front, no grass in the wire-fenced yard, the garden outside the kitchen window non-existent. It was a golden yellow color, something her mother had decided on long before she was born, and the paint was chipping.

Brenda had walked as fast as she ever remembered walking from Phil's Diner, knowing she'd be losing pay for this, and jogged up the steps, through the front door, slinging her apron onto the ripped old chair by the door. Leaning over the back of the couch in the middle of the room she saw Sonny there, eyes wide open, glaring at the corner of the room. His leg, covered by washed out jeans, was slick with dark red blood that looked almost brown and his right leg, starting at the knee, was bent sort of funny.

"Told you not to fuckin' call her!" he snapped.

Brenda followed his gaze to the corner of the room, which he had been giving his murderous glance to since she walked in, and saw some unknown man standing in the corner, broad shouldered and well built, hands shoved uncomfortably in his front jean pockets. He lifted his eyes from the ground which he had been staring hard at, probably trying to dig up the strength not to whack her brother, and met her eyes.

His eyes were like nothing she'd seen before. Most people had really bland eyes, if you asked her. Nothing to marvel at. Blue, green, brown. Occasionally she'd spy grey eyes, which were kind of pretty lookin'. But his were something to look at. Like this glass art her mother had shown her when she was a child and her mother had started goin' through another arts and crafts faze. They were pretty, but a little cold. Nothing compared to her brother's, but still.

"You are?" she asked, standing back up, one hand on a jutted out hip as she leaned back against her dad's old afghan on the couch and vaguely wished she had cleaned the house this morning.

He cleared his throat and in a nice deep drawl said; "Darrel Curtis. Was working at the sight with your brother."

She lifted her chin slightly in an acknowledgment.

"One of the carpenters?"

"I was roofing the house. We were workin' a job together. He-"

"Some bastard shook my fuckin' ladder!" Sonny shouted.

"Sonny, shut up." Brenda rolled her eyes at her brother, who scowled in return, and she turned to look at Darrel again.

"He fell off the ladder, whole thing came down on him, got his leg real good. Boss told me to drive his truck back here, since he was refusin' to go to the hospital."

"Damn straight. I ain't goin to no hospital. I'm fine, Brenda. Just a flesh wound."

Brenda gave Sonny a dry look.

"You're staining the couch. Sure as hell don't look like no flesh wound to me. You probably broke your leg and need stitches."

"Which I can handle myself. I don't need to pay an arm and a leg for some fuckin' doc to tell me what I already know."

Brenda breathed a sigh through her nose, shaking her head. He was right, of course. They couldn't afford to just go running to the hospital for things. Especially since she'd lose pay for today and Sonny probably wouldn't be working again until his leg was better. Perfect.

Brenda turned to Darrel again.

"Thanks for bringing him back here. I can probably handle whatever the hell he broke myself." She looked around the kitchen.

"You want a coke or something?" she asked, noticing Sonny wasn't the only one swettin' bullets in the heat.

"I don't wanna put you out."

"I think we can handle giving up a thing a pepsi."

Darrel managed a small smile and nodded his thanks. Brenda knelt in front of the fridge and grabbed a bottle from the back, handing it to him.

"You losin' pay for this?" she asked.

Darrel shook his head.

"Will be if I don't head back soon, but I got a free pass to take him back."

"Well then, let me drive you back over there. I think Sonny can survive until I get back. Not everyone needs to lose pay today." Brenda said, snatching the keys from the coffee table.

Darrel's eyes widened a bit, like he realized that he had in fact called her from work.

"Glory, I just thought he shouldn't be alone. Now I get why he didn't want me botherin' to call you." He said as they headed to the truck.

Brenda shook her head, giving him a small smile as she started it up, backing out of the drive-way.

"Naw, he would've given you trouble anyways. Sonny thinks he's unstoppable. Tough, you know? Which he is, but damn, he broke his leg. Sure, he didn't want you callin' me, for the pay reasons, but you should've anyways. Sonny can't be on his own for long when he gets hurt. Horrible patient."

Darrel leaned back in his seat, taking a sip of Pepsi as she lit a cigarette, hanging her hand out the window.

"Sounds it. No offense. He's not a very…" he trailed off, looking for the words.

"Reasonable person?" she suggested.

Darrel nodded his head.

"He's not. Gets it from our old man, I guess."

They were quiet then, as she followed his instructions to the job site. When she pulled in, he opened the door, slamming it shut as it screeched, in need of oiling. He leaned in through the window.

"Well, thanks for the drink. Hope your brother gets better real soon. He's a good worker."

Brenda nodded her head.

"Thanks for bringing him home, man. I don't need no hospital bills right now, with him being out of work."

Darrel nodded his head and backed away with a short wave over his shoulder, adjusting his tool belt as he walked, taking a big gulp of Pepsi before crushing the can and ditching it in a nearby waste can.

Brenda backed out of the lot, heading back to the house. She wasn't surprised that when she got back Sonny had moved, managing to snag a remaining bear can from the fridge and sitting on the couch again, watching the TV.

"Where's Grams?" he asked.

"If she's not in, she's probably out with the old women down the street, you know they do that afternoon tea thing on Ethel Hamilton's porch."

Sonny nodded his head, flicking to another channel.

"There's shit on." He said.

"Tough luck, brother." Brenda told him, kneeling down beside his legs, which rested uncomfortably on the coffee table, several items from around the house beside her.

She picked up the glass of water, setting it on the coffee table, taking a rag from the kitchen and a pair of scissors. There was no way she was going to get the blood stains out of his jeans so she cut just above the blood.

"James' jeans." Sonny said with a maddening grin.

Brenda rolled her eyes.

"Of course. Because you've gotten blood on all your own jeans you don't own no more pairs."

Sonny gave what she knew was a proud grin. Sonny was known around town for his fights, just like a lot of Greasers. It was how they earned their names, most of 'em, their fighting. Unless you were that kid, Buck, that Sonny used to hang with, who got it for his drinking and riding. Sonny'd been in the cooler so much sometimes she felt he was rentin' a room there.

She dunked the rag in the water and tried to clean away the still trickling blood. Sonny frowned, taking the slight discomfort. He had a big gash runnin' down his leg, probably from the ladder falling on him. After that she picked up a box of matches, the needle and the thread. Looping the fishing line through one end of the needle, she struck a match and held the flame under the other end of her grandmother's sewing needle, sterilizing and whatnot. With a warning glance to her brother, she started stitching him up.

Sonny's scarred hands clenched at the couch, but he kept a straight face, his lips thinning and blinking his eyes repeatedly, as if blinking off the pain. Brenda's fingers were a little hot from the needle and she frowned herself. Making quick work of stitching up her brother, as she had done for him and some of the others since Sonny had once begged her to do it after his first fight when she was six, so their mother wouldn't yell at him, she laid the needle down, snipping the line with the scissors.

"I gotta brace your leg, Son."

"My knee cap in place, at least?"

"Seems to be. I think it's more the leg bone that's broken."

Sonny swore under his breath. He wouldn't be walking for a while either, let alone working. Brenda got up, going to the kitchen and yanking the rod of the curtains in the kitchen down, since one was already broken anyways. She grabbed some electrical tape and a shirt from Roy's room before heading back to her brother. The rods were a little long, but she figured maybe that'd offer more support. She's never really braced a leg before, but she'd seen her mother do it before. She lined up the rods on either side of his leg, going just a little above the knee, and taped them in place. Ripping the shirt into strips she used it to tie the rods at the top by the knee and the bottom, just above his ankle.

"Gimme your beer."

"Why?"

"Sonny."

Sonny groaned.

"Do you have to?"

"Don't be a little girl. Hand it over."

Sonny muttered some curses at her and she tipped the beer over a little, letting a tiny stream of alcohol run down over his cut. Sonny flinched, his leg jerking, but tried to keep himself otherwise controlled. After a moment, she handed him back the bottle and stood.

Sonny was scowling at her.

"Don't look at me like that. We both lost pay today because you fell off a goddamn ladder. You coulda gotten yourself killed, Sonny." She said.

He shook his head, turning back to look at the TV.

Brenda sighed, tightening her ponytail. She leaned against the counter in the kitchen.

"I'm gonna head to work again, see if maybe I'll just get a decrease in today's pay instead of calling the whole day off. We need to get groceries today." She muttered before leaving the house with the keys, Sonny blaring the TV behind her.

It was late when she got home. Crickets were goin' off outside and all the lights in the house, as well as many others on the street, were on. The radio was blaring some Elvis song, the TV could be heard from the street from some kids' show. A couple was fighting down the street, arguing so loud she could hear it over all the noise comin' from her own place and it sent all the dogs barking.

She opened the screen door and headed inside. She normally came home around midnight, what with working as a waitress at a tavern a few blocks over, The Whipple. Sonny was sitting on the couch, beer in hand again with a few littering the floor. Roy was lying sideways on the chair by the door, drinking his own. Brenda knocked his feet as she went by. Thankfully it seemed Kay and Connie had gone grocery shopping after school with some money in the jar they kept, obviously Sonny requested they get lots of beer since he'd be sitting around all day. Though considering the girls' age, Connie probably nicked the bunch while Kay paid for the other groceries. Concerning the twins, Kay was working on her homework, sitting on the floor as she worked at the coffee table in front of the TV, Sonny's legs on her sides. Connie was nowhere to be seen, probably out somewhere she shouldn't be.

"Where's your sister?" Brenda asked, bending down to kiss Kay's head.

Kay shrugged, pointing to the front door. _Out_.

"Say when she'd be back?"

Kay shook her head again, eyes trained on a complicated math problem. Kay wasn't book smart, she was artistically smart. Sonny and Connie were street smart. James was…Brenda didn't know what they hell he was smart in. Girls? Guess that's kind of biology, if she really reached. Bennie on the other hand was book smart. Kid started reading real early and did it real well too. Roy didn't care too much 'bout anything but he was a good cook.

"James is out too. Heard he's got some new chick." Roy said.

"Jamie's always got a new girl." Bennie said, coming from his room.

"You always let these kids run wild, Brenda. They're gonna end up dead in an alley way." Her grandmother snapped in her little winded voice, sharp eyes trained on her crossword.

"Yes, Grams."

"Your mother never would've let this happen."

"I know, Grams."

Brenda went into the kitchen, searching for a glass and found the dishes piled against the counter still. She sighed, her hair out of its pony tail she raked her fingers through its tangles. She rubbed under her eyes, no doubt there were some dark circles there already.

She turned to look at the living room.

"Kay, baby, you almost finished with that math homework?"

Kay bobbed her head, still intent on the problem. She never did give up on anything.

"Bennie, help her out, would you?"

"I don't know her math!" Bennie protested, box of new cookies sitting in his lap as he settled in front of the TV.

"Ben…"

"Hey," Sonny barked, knocking Bennie in the head with his good leg, "do what she tells you, punk ass kid."

Bennie shot Sonny a look but scrambled over to help Kay. Bennie was good with school. Besides, you just don't mess with Sonny.

"Where're the other two, huh? They know the rules, it's a school night." Brenda said.

Sonny shrugged, taking a chug of beer.

"Don't got a clue. James' got that new girl on his arm, like I said, and Lord knows where Con runs off to when you're not lookin'."

Brenda sighed, shoving her hands roughly through her hair, shaking her head.

"No one bothered to do the dishes today?" she grunted.

"Yeah, let me just wobble over there." Sonny muttered.

Brenda spun and picked up a bowl, launching it at his head.

"Fuck!"

"Don't be a smart ass!"

"Don't fucking throw things at me!"

"Stop pissing me off and I wouldn't have to."

Sonny gave her a look that would make anyone who hadn't grown up with him, not to mention currently had two functioning legs, tremble. She sneered at him and turned grumpily back to the sink. Sonny was the only one she could yell at. She couldn't yell at Kay, you just don't do that, Roy had just fallen asleep and Bennie was too young to yell at for stupid things without making her feel bad. And you just can't talk back to Grams, she'd whack you good with her cane until you couldn't remember your own name. So she started working on the dishes. She was halfway through when Kay appeared, silent as ever, at her side, giving her a one armed hug around the waist before heading off to Brenda's room to sleep. Kay had been sleeping in her bed ever since she was a kid, since Connie kicked kinda hard in her sleep and Kay always woke up with bruises the side of the whole south on her. Kay got real scared sometimes at night if she wasn't within reach of someone and she woke up. Bennie migrated beds. Kid could fall asleep anywhere, Brenda swore, she even found him on the counter once, head in the sink, sleeping away.

"Son, throw something at the kid. Send him and Ben off to bed, would ya?"

Sonny more than willingly complied, finding a shoe on the ground and aiming well at Roy's head. With a yelp a little more girly than he'd ever admit to, her kid brother flipped off the chair, crashing to the floor. Bennie gave a loud cackling laugh and Roy launched up, chasing him down the hall with the shoe raised for combat. Brenda could hear multiple thuds coming from one of the rooms.

She made quick work of the dishes and stuck them back into the cabinets before making her way towards the front window by the porch, turning off the radio. Sonny shut off the TV and reclined back on the couch, where he'd probably make a habit of sleeping on until he could walk. Brenda steadied Grams as she stood, setting her newspaper down and walking with her cane to her own room.

"Bren, I'll wait up for 'em. If they're not home by the time you get up you can whack 'em." Sonny said, stretching his arms.

Brenda hesitated, taking a look outside again, crossing her arms over her chest before nodding and heading to her own room, finding Kay waiting up for her, as she usually did. Brenda burrowed under the blankets, throwing an arm over Kay and closing her eyes. If those two kids weren't home before morning, God help them…


	3. Chapter 3 The girls

It wasn't odd for the two Landons to spend the night out. In fact, most of the kids spent time away from the house. Their grandmother was insufferable, the TV was staticy, the radio crackled, there was no air conditioning, most of the time the food was gone, the dishes weren't done and two many people lived there. Branda preferred time away herself, considering her grandmother. Grandmother Theresa had taken them all on about five years ago, but she didn't do much parenting. She was a firm believer, after raising six boys herself, that you could rub a little dirt on it and walk it off when you got hurt. Or that letting them all fend for themselves would get them ready for the world, to be independent. Brenda, however, stepped in soon after when Bennie set a fire in the boys bathroom at school when he was six an almost got expelled and Roy didn't show up to school at all for three months.

It wasn't like their parents were dead. No, her parents had grown up here just as about everyone else's families did. Her father and his five brothers had grown up here, hoods like the boys she knew now. Her mother had grown up with an alcoholic father they sometimes saw around town and a mother who was too drugged up half the time on medication for some mental thing to notice she even had a kid. Her father, Ricky Landon, had had a reputation around town as a real tough guy. Even now. But he got into some trouble. He didn't kill a guy, but close enough, and they sent him packing to the big house for twenty years to life. her mother, Sally Owens, liked to drink a little too much, tried to kill herself once when Brenda was seven in the bathroom and then eventually skipped out right before Ricky went away. They hadn't seen her since. Grandmother never let them forget their parents were fuck ups.

Which is why Brenda was constantly trying to make sure the kids wouldn't end up like them. So when Connie didn't turn up that night but made it home in the morning, make-up smeared darkly around her face with matted hair, Brenda was a little less than thrilled.

"You staying or strolling right into first period?" she asked sarcastically.

Connie stuck her tongue out at her and hunched over at the table.

"Where were you?"

Connie shrugged.

"Told Kay to tell ya I'd be out."

"It's not Kay's job to report your social life to me. Where were you?"

Connie turned her head up to look at Brenda and scowled. She launched up from the table, knocking the chair over backwards and Sonny shot into a sitting position on the couch. Brenda's eyes rounded as she regarded her sister who muttered something angrily about getting dressed and stormed off to her and Roy's room. Sonny leaned his head back to give her a raised look and Brenda raised her hands abover her head as she shook it. She'd deal with whatever Connie was up to later.

With a sigh she started breakfast and Sonny turned on the TV, blasting it as usual. The man was deaf, she swore by it. Roy came out a minute later, scowl on _his_ face now.

"And what's wrong with you?" Brenda asked.

Roy threw a dirty look over his shoulder.

"That bitch has something up her ass." he said.

"Hey. She's your sister, don't call her a bitch." Brenda scolded as she turned back to the stove. "Even if she is one."

Roy gave a small small at that and slumped down in a seat at the table.

"Not going to take a shower?" She asked.

"What's the point? Not like the hot waters going anywhere...there is none."

"Ha-ha."

The front door slammed and Brenda glanced up to look up to see Evie Michaels striding through the living room, snapping her gum and twirling a lock of brown hair around one of her fingers. And Sonny thought Connie's clothes were bad. Brenda didn't mind Evie much, she was a pretty alright kid when she wasn't getting into some fight with another girl. Their parents had gone to school together, or more specifically their mothers had. Evie was relatively tiny, petite looking, with a cute face and very light green eyes that told you she was looking for trouble. She looked exactly like her mother, Elizabeth. Evie liked to have fun and was constantly looking for a new way, more times than not, illegal, to find it. Which is why she hung around Connie.

"Mornin' Bren." she said, hopping onto the counter.

"Alright, Eves?" Brenda asked, slipping another egg into the pan.

Evie kicked her legs, almost like a small child, so her heels hit the cupboard doors with a steady beat.

"Fine, fine. Con ready?"

"I don't know. Go ask her. I warn ya, she's in a mood again."

Evie nodded, uneffected, and hopped to the floor, walking towards the bedroom door.

"You staying for breakfast?" Brenda called out.

"Eggs?"

"Yup."

"Sure thing!"

The door banged open from the hall and there was a sound of crashing objects swiftly after, some loud cussing and then creaks from the mattress. Brenda rolled her eyes. Connie did this. She'd get all up in a mood, then Evie would come to sort her out, almost like she had a radar for it but more likely she'd been out with Connie and knew about it already, and then Connie would throw a full on tantrum, complete with flying projectiles before Evie would settle on the bed while Connie got ready.

Kay stumbled out from the bathroom, rubbing her eyes sleepily before giving Brenda a smile. Brenda ruffled her hair and set down a smiley face chocolate chip pancake in front of her. The rest filed out soon before they bickered and headed out the door, this time with no car. James was the only one that could drive them to school besides Sonny, but Sonny wasn't going to work and James was M.I.A So Brenda laid out a beer for Sonny, got him a pack form the counter and laid out Grams' medication on the table before taking the keys and her apron and driving to the diner.

It generally wasn't a place for Soces to go. It could get a little rough sometimtes, depending who was in there, but they served decent food for decent prices. Probably helped that Evie's older sister Gloria and Brenda's best friend Sylvia worked there. Gloria was beautiful, whereas Evie was cute. Gloria was nineteen, a year older than Brenda, two more than Sylvia. She was tall, thin, delicate looking and had a look about her that was classic hollywood, like that real classy vintage look Brenda sometimes saw in the magazines with her long, shiny black hair and her light blue eyes and gentle features. Her laugh was real soft and she didn't dress like other girls they hung around with.

Sylvia Jones was another matter entirely. Sylvia _was_ the other type of girls they hung around with. Sylvia was tall and blonde with a tough feel to her. While Gloria could fit the description for tuff, Sylvia was tough. Brenda had known Gloria for forever, because of their mothers who had actually gotten pregnant in highschool together, and she knew Sylvia since first grade when Sylvia beat up some kid who lifted up Brenda's skirt on the playground. She had these dark blue eyes that Brenda had seen turned black too many times to count, since she was always mad. Sylvia was always looking for a fight. Infact, unlike most girls who put up a good talk, Sylvia was one of the few who could actually hold her own against most guys in the neighborhood. Probably why she had a thing for Dally Winston. Though she didn't like to be told what to do, live up to anyone's expectations or be tied down, so every time Dally was away, Sylvia liked to take a walk around the local market until he came back.

"Landon, what's with the truck?" Sylvia asked first thing, snapping a bubble at her as she headed to the back with some dirty dishes.

"Sonny fell off a ladder. Broke his leg we think." Brenda said, tying the apron around her waist as she went to take an order of some young couple in the corner.

The rusty haired guy gave a loud laugh at something and the obviously fake blonde gave an obviously fake laugh in response, pretending to blush.

"Take your order?" Brenda asked.

"Hey, baby. Yeah, take two burgers. Whatcha' want, baby?" he asked, looking at the blonde.

"Salad for me." she said without looking at Brenda.

Brenda nodded.

"Nothin' to drink?"

"Pepsi, Two."

"Sure thing. Back in a second."

Brenda headed over to the revolver to pin the order.

"Sonny alright? Not too bad a break, yeah?" Gloria asked, sliding a dark strand of hair behind her ear.

Brenda shrugged.

"Did what I could for it. Can't take him to get it checked out, not with what they're charging these days."

"Specially not since he won't be able to work for awhile." Gloria said in agreement. "You guys gonna be okay until then?"

Brenda sighed and nodded.

"How'd you get him home if he had the truck?" Sylvia asked, coming to stick up another order as Gloria left to deliver one.

"Curtis boy. The older one. Dropped him off. He was one of the roofers on the project."

"Darry Curtis. He's cute." Sylvia said with a suggestive raise of her eyebrows.

"You think anything with a prick is cute, Sylvie."

Sylvia whacked her with an old rag but smirked. She knew she did.

"How's Dally?"

Sylvia shrugged.

"Still in the cooler, ya know? What's a girl to do?"

Brenda gave her a good humored laugh as Sylvia walked away to a table of guys she went to school with. "Gee, I don't know, wait for him?"

Sylvia gave a laugh over her shoulder, flipping her hair.

"Yeah, alright Bren." she mocked before leaning over to take an order, giving the guys a great view.

"She's unbelievable." Gloria muttered.

"She's Sylvia." Brenda replied, grabbing the now ready order and heading to the couple again.

* * *

><p>Connie sat up in the bed, the sheet falling off her body as she ran a hand through her tangled hair. She glanced down at the broad shouldered figure beside her who was snoring lightly. Mikey was fast asleep, sweat sheened and exhausted. She made sure of that. She placed her feet on the floor and padded over to his dresser, opening the drawer and reaching in for the stash of condoms he kept hidden there. She bent down and stuffed a few in her jeans pocket, securing a few, before taking a safety pin from her pants and skillfully poking holes straight through every single one. When she was finished she shoved them back inside the drawer and crawled back into bed, laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes, satisfied smirk on her face.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4 Curse like a Landon

"We've got fuck all money to pay these bills with!"

Brenda shoved her hands through her hair and tipped it up slightly to give her brother an exasperated look.

"Well if people didn't go falling off ladders-"

"Someone pushed my ladder!" he protested adamantly.

"Or you were being reckless again and thought it'd be a good idea to try and beat the roofers at their own game. _Again_."

"They move so slow-"

Brenda swung her leg under the kitchen table.

"Mother of God!" Sonny shouted angrily, leaning down to hold his leg as he cussed her out.

"Man you cuss good." Bennie stated as he came into the kitchen, searching for a glass and found none before taking a gulp of milk from the container.

Brenda huffed and slapped him across the back of his head.

"Disgusting. Wash a glass and pour it, you cretin."

Bennie rolled his eyes dramatically before doing what she said. Brenda turned back to the stack of papers on the table.

"Well we have to pay them so..."

"How do you suggest we do that exactly?" Sonny snapped.

"Don't get mad at me, you handicap. I already work two jobs and that still ain't enough."

"Mrs. Connor down the street wants her house painted." Connie announced as she watched the TV fuzz in and out.

"What's that got to do with us?" Sonny demanded.

Connie turned her head to face him, a sneer planted on it that made her look startlingly like their Grandmothers.

"Well, stupid, it would seem like she's willin' to pay for it."

"Yeah? How much?" Brenda asked.

"More than we got now, isn't it?"

Brenda shrugged, conceding. They generally didn't hide the money problems from the kids.

"So, Roy could do it, since he hasn't got a job." Connie suggested with a grin.

"What!" Roy popped up from where he was lounging on the chair.

"What? You don't. You spend all your time laying 'round the house." Connie told him.

"So do you!"

"But I'm a girl. You're a boy. Waitressin' jobs are all full up now and I'm too young to be one of those high-tech operatin' ladies for the phones."

Roy looked distressingly at his brothers.

James shrugged.

"Man, I'm workin' after school at the factory, loadin' shipments and whatnot. Pull your weight."

Roy groaned and flung his head back.

"So, that's settled. Roy, tomorrow after school I want you talking to Mrs. Connor about the job. Kay, you've still got that babysitting job down the block for the O'Keefes' right?"

Kay turned around from her sketchpad and nodded quickly.

"She's got them after school again tomorrow until dinner." Connie confirmed.

Brenda nodded and gave a sigh. She'd be grey with wrinkles before she even hit twenty-five at this rate.

* * *

><p>Kay squirmed in her seat. Her legs hung off her chair and couldn't touch the ground so they were getting twitchy. She hated these seats, the ones that were too high. She shifted again, pursing her lips. Mr. Garner's class was horrible, because he wouldn't let her change her tall seat for a shorter one. Said she got what she got and she should be grateful she had a chair. She suspected he wasn't too kind on kids from her side of town.<p>

She flicked her eyes across the class to where Connie say, leaning back onto two legs and looked like she was sleeping in the back of the room. Mr. Garner didn't pick her too often for class. Kay thought he was probably a little unsure 'bout her. She wasn't just greasy, like the girls they both hung with, but there was something scary and dark in her twin's eyes. But Kay had long since gotten over that. Connie made it a point that she wouldn't do nothing to ever hurt her. Mr. Garner on the other hand...

Connie sat back in her chair and Kay was sure if she put it on two legs like that she'd fall back and hit her head on the desk of the Soc behind her. She was too tiny for the chair to do that. Unfortunately, Garner was into assigned seating, so Connie sat away from her, all the way across the room, with some other hood kid, dark tanned boy with real long greasy hair that hunched in his seat and never spoke a single word. Johnny Cade, she knew him. Most people on her side of town knew everyone else, either by face or reputation. And although the twins were some of the youngest in their grade, they still knew Cade. Kay knew he hung around with that kid that Sonny used to jockey with, Winston. Dallas Winston, the scariest hood she'd probably ever meet. Except maybe those Shepard brothers.

Johnn'y eyes, dark as the night she swore, flicked up and widened when they met hers before ducking down the table top again.

"Miss Landon, the question _please_." Mr. Garner drawled, looking very amused to have caught her off guard.

Sure she wasn't paying much attention, but she didn't talk. She had nothing to say to the man. He got a real kick outta takin' a rise with her though.

She stared at him in a sort of imploring way she had and tilted her head inquiringly to the side.

"Well, will you answer, Miss Landon, or do you once again not know the answer?"

Kay felt her face get awful hot.

"Nah, I don't know the answer, but if you stopped looking down Emily Vaughn's shirt long enough to teach the class, I might know it."

Kay started putting her books; complete with torn covers and dog-eared pages with stains on it, into her bag.

"Miss Landon I was speaking to-"

"_Miss Landon_. I know. So I answered."

"The other one."

"Well, you've got two in this class, _Sir_," Connie said with a condescending smirk, "so how was I to know?"

Mr. Garner did this thing he did where his face would get real red and a vein looked about ready to bust in his neck.

Connie stood from her seat, smacking a bubble of gum and strode for the door, a ready Kay at her heels, hand stuck out for a piece of gum herself. She turned once to look over her shoulder as she left, Socs rolling their eyes and making lewed gestures. One of the few neighborhood kids attending class, Johnny Cade himself, met her eyes once again before, slower this time, looking at the table.

* * *

><p>They walked around town for a bit before they met up with Evie and Steve for lunch. Sandy Owens met up with them. They were walking down to the DX, where Steve and Sandy wanted to go spend time with Sodapop Curtis. Connie knew the kid, came from their neighborhood, hung around with her history partner, Cade. Honestly, Cade made her twitchy. He was so jumpy and he was almost as quiet as Kay and she was used to Kay, not him. Kay could scream a hundred words at once to fill to the silence without sayin' a thing, all Connie had to do was watch her, so it never felt silent. Johnny Cade was just quiet.<p>

"You know, Con, I heard some things about your guy." Evie started.

Connie rolled her eyes.

"Don't matter. I don't listen to those loose lipped hens anyway."

"They said some pretty interestin' stuff though."

"I heard some awful stuff 'bout him too." Sandy said.

Connie spent her not even a glance. She couldn't understand why Evie tolerated her, really. She was standard greaser girl, but tried to act like she wasn't. Like a clean girl in a greasy body. It didn't fly with Connie, girls like that never did. She liked who she was, where she came from. People who could accept themselves were low to her.

"Told you, Eves, I ain't listening to it."

"Well others are. Said he's been going to Buck's pretty often, using a room there..."

Kay made a sort of humming sound, practically too low to hear. Connie sighed. Kay didn't like her boyfriend, thought he didn't treat her right, and sometimes he didn't, but honestly, Connie only had so many options here. Humming, now that Connie thought about it, was probably the only sound Kay made, and it was when she was upset, and it was a basically non-existent sound that lasted less than a blink of an eye.

"See, a girl that trusts her man, like she should. Why y'all trying to turn her against him?" Steve Randle said.

Steve and Evie had been dating a fwe months, maybe two, now. He was an alright guy, didn't have a real good home life, was real handy with a car and ran with a pretty tough crowd, not like the Shepards or nothin', but tough enough. He treated Evie decent and that's what Connie really remembered about him. She'd pop his jaw a good one if he didn't.

Truth was, she knew she was being cheated on. Never with the same girl, she thought, but still. But she only had so many options and besides, it was her he always came back to. But she was determined to make it a point not to screw with her man. He may treat her right, besides the other girls, which was good because she'd clock anyone who didn't, but he wouldn't stick around if things got tough and he'd ditch, she knew he would. That's why they always made it a point to be careful. So when those lucky condoms she poked holes into finally managed to knock some slut up, there'd be a clear message. Stay away.

"I'm not tryin' to turn her against nobody, Steve. But he ain't treatin' her right." Evie said with an eye roll as they walked into the station.

"Sure sounds like it."

"Sounds like what?" Sodapop Curtis asked as he leaned across the counter, smiling.

Connie had to admit, the boy was good lookin'. Most girls thought he was a doll. Even Kay's eyes widened slightly, like always, and she blushed. Luckily for her she didn't turn too much a different color thanks to their skintone.

"Connie Landon's guy's apparrantly decking out on the side says some girlies back at school. Evie here thinks Connie should believe it, while Connie, like an upstanding girl, says she won't." Steve replied, leaning beside his buddy.

Sodapop grinned and shook his head.

"She should believe whatever she thinks. I don't know nothin' bout it so I can't really say."

"Thank-you." Steve said, like Sodapop's word closed the whole topic.

Evie put her hands on her hips and gave Connie a half amused look. Connie shrugged, absently twirling a lock of her hair.

"Hey, baby." Sodapop greeted Sandy who flitted over to him to give him a kiss.

"How's school?" Sodapop asked.

"Boring." she said with a pout.

He grinned again.

"Kinda slow overe here too."

She smiled and he slung an arm around her shoulders.

"When your man get out?" Evie asked Connie.

Connie shrugged, watching Kay look at some magazines on the rack.

"Dunno. Later. He'll swing buy when he gets off."

"You guys should at least spend lunch together." Sandy said.

Connie shrugged again.

"We don't do the lunch thing. He's got work and I'm not walking all the way over there."

Evie gave a hum of agreement before cocking her head.

"Think your sister will let you come to the Nightly Double tonight?"

Connie pursed her lips as she thought.

"I came home too late last time but...she's workin' a late shift tonight, since Sonny ain't workin' since he busted his leg on that ladder."

"Oh, so it was a Landon Darry brought from work the other day. He wasn't sure. Said he swore like a Landon." Sodapop said brightly.

Connie laughed.

"So your brother was the big guy standing in the living room when Bren walked in. She couldn't figure out who. Had to remind her later. Sonny probably cussed your brother out something good."

"From what I heard, yeah. Cusses just like James then?"

"Worse."

Sodapop laughed.

"Boy howdy, hate to be on the receiving end of that Landon."

"Yeah, so do the rest of us." Connie said, rolling her eyes and cussing her brother out good naturedly.

"Just like that." Evie teased.

"Lady-like." Steve taunted.

Connie stuck her tongue out.

"Why'd you leave, before, I mean? When you came tp pick us up for lunch you weren't comin' from the school." Evie asked.

"Garner picked on Kay. Told him to stop lookin' down Emily Vaughn's shirt long enough to teach the class and someone might actually know the answer to his question. Walked out when he started getting red."

Evie shook her head.

"Brenda's gonna love that."

"Don't I know it." Connie muttered.

Brenda was gonna tan her for skipping classes again, worse off, once again taking Kay with her.


End file.
